Omakase — the Japanese equivalent of the tasting menu, which translates as “I’ll leave it up to you” — has been one of the biggest restaurant trends of the past 18 months. Yet in among the small plates of ikejime sea bass and charcoal-grilled wagyu being handed over impeccably buffed cedar counters in the capital’s smartest postcodes, one restaurant stands out for the uniqueness of its offering. Juno Omakase (2-4 Farmer Street, W8 7SN, losmochis.co.uk) in Notting Hill Gate, which opened in January, offers a hybrid of Mexican and Japanese cuisine. Or in the words of executive chef Leonard Tanyag: “Tokyo meets Tulum.”
Owner Markus Thelseff and Tanyag hit upon the culinary theme during the pandemic — in part because no one else was doing it, and in part because Mexican is the chef’s favourite style of food. Is that enough to launch a restaurant with? Probably not, but Tanyag has solid credentials. His family moved to Japan from the Philippines when he was seven and by the time he was 20, he had attained the position of sushi itamae, a skilled chef allowed to work on the sushi counter after three years training in izakaya and kaiseki restaurants.
